The 16^th Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (CIEP) was successfully held in Shenzhen, Guangdong from April 14 to 15, 2018. The 16^th CIEP attracted more than 4,000 professional organizations, training institutions, colleges & universities, high-tech enterprises and human resources institutions from 50-plus countries and regions, over 8,500 foreign experts and overseas high-level talents, and more than 9,300 representatives appointed by human resources, high-tech and education departments of provinces and cities as well as by enterprises engaged in talent introduction. According to available statistics, provinces and cities reached 3,000-plus intentions to cooperate with professional organizations, training institutions and returnees on talent attraction projects, and the two-day conference attracted nearly 100,000 visitors.

In terms of talent recruitment, the 16^th CIEP launched eight special job fairs, namely Job Fair for Foreign Professionals, Job Fair for Returnees, “Intelligence to Lead the Future” Job Fair for Fresh College Graduates, “Intelligent Hiring of Top 100” Job Fair of Famous Enterprises for Middle to High-end Talents, “Internet +” Job Fair, “Elite World” Job Fair, Job Fair for Staff of Public Institutions, and Hong Kong Job Fair for High-level Talents. More than 1,500 renowned enterprises, including Tencent, Huawei and Ping An, attended these job fairs, offering over 30,000 positions to high-end talents at both home and abroad. At the conference, 56,797 resumes were received and 24,156 people achieved their initial employment intentions.

In terms of international competition, the 2^nd China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition held nine competition divisions, and attracted 1,460 project applications from 24 countries. At the conference, 135 projects competed in Shenzhen.

At the 16^th CIEP, Germany became the first Guest of Honor. By following the strategy of “inviting in and going global”, German expert organizations, research institutions, colleges & universities, vocational training institutions, high-level talent institutions, high-tech enterprises and high-end experts and returnees were invited to the conference.

German and Hong Kong sub-venues made their debuts at the 16^th CIEP. Both the German sub-venue event, which was held in Berlin on March 22, and the Hong Kong sub-venue event, which was held at the InterContinental Hong Kong on April 17, were well received.